Debating Development - A historical analysis of the Sasakawa Global 2000 project in Ghana and indigenous knowledge as an alternative approach to agricultural development

Abstract

The thesis deals with two different approaches to agricultural development in Africa. The first one, aiming at bringing the Green Revolution to Africa, represents a high-input strategy. The other, advocating a populist approach, focuses on indigenous knowledge. The central question is what a historical analysis of the debate between the two different approaches imply with regard to Africa's agricultural development. In this case, the Sasakawa Global 2000 project in Ghana is taken as an example of a high-input strategy. To juxtapose this strategy, Paul Richards' 1985 publication Indigenous Agricultural Revolution is discussed.